320 ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE. 



instant his head was turned. Two well-authenticated instances 

 of the recurrence of this device came within my knowledge at 

 Colombo, and attest the sagacity and powers of communication 

 and combination possessed by these astute and courageous 

 birds. 



This account, which would be difficult of credence if 

 narrated by a less competent author, is strikingly confirmed 

 by an independent observation on the crows of Japan, 

 which has recently been published by Miss Bird, in whose 

 words I shall render it. She writes : — 



In the inn garden I saw a dog eating a piece of catrion in 

 the presence of several of these covetous bh*ds. They evidently 

 said a great deal to each other on the subject, and now and then 

 one or two of them tried to pull the meat away from him, 

 which he resented. At last a big strong crow succeeded in 

 tearing off a piece, with which he returned to the pine where 

 the others were congregated, and after much earnest speech 

 they all surrounded the dog, and the leading bird dexterously 

 dropped the small piece of meat within reach of his mouth, 

 when he immediately snapped at it, letting go the big piece 

 unwisely for a second, on which two of the crows flew away 

 with it to the j^ine, and with much fluttering and hilarity 

 they all ate, or rather gorged it, the deceived dog looking vacant 

 and bewildered for a moment, after which he sat under the tree 

 and barked at them inanely. A gentleman told me that he 

 saw a dog holding a piece of meat in like manner in the 

 presence of three crows, which also vainly tried to tear it from 

 him, and after a consultation they separated, two going as near 

 as they dared to the meat, while the third gave the tail a 

 bite sharp enough to make the dog turn round with a 

 squeak, on which the other villains seized the meat, and the 

 three fed triumphantly upon it on the top of a wall.^ 



These two independent statements by competent ob- 

 servers of such similar exhibitions of intelligence by crows, 

 justifies us in accepting the fact, remarkaole though it be. 

 As further corroboration, however, I shall quote still 

 another independent and closely similar observation, 

 which I find in a letter to me from Sir J. Clarke Jervoise, 

 who says, while writing of rooks which he has observed in 

 England : — 



' Unbeaten Tracks in Japan, vol. ii., pp. 149-50, 



